Jay LaPrete / Associated PressOhio State's David Lighty puts an exclamation point on a dominating performance with this dunk over Cleveland State's Jared Cunningham in the second half of Tuesday's game in Columbus. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- David Lighty put the twinkle in Ohio State's Christmas Tuesday night and coal in Cleveland State's stocking with a career night that lifted the Buckeyes to a 72-59 victory over the Vikings in Value City Arena.

Lighty's 30 points, with 22 coming in the second half, kept the Vikings out of reach of an upset and extended CSU's losing streak to eight straight against Division I opponents. With leading scorer Norris Cole shooting blanks all night, the Vikings had no answer for the No. 17 Buckeyes.

Lighty dropped 3-pointers early, pull-ups throughout, a major dunk to wake the crowd late and free throws down the stretch to cap a big night for the 6-5 junior from Villa Angela-St. Joseph. He was 9-of-16 from the field, 9-of-13 from the line with seven rebounds and five assists.

"I thought Lighty had one of his best games ever," said CSU head coach Gary Waters, who received a 25-point effort off the bench by Jeremy Montgomery.

Lighty was aided by 12 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and two steals from 6-8 Solon native Dallas Lauderdale, who made it clear he did not want any part of CSU upsetting the Buckeyes.

"You know what means the [most] is when me and Dave are Christmas shopping the next couple of days, we won't have to hear the nonsense," Lauderdale said.

At the opposite end, CSU's leading scorer, Norris Cole, coming off a 29-point effort against West Virginia, was scoreless and clearly frustrated, going 0-for-10 with six turnovers.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd come up empty," said Ohio State coach Thad Matta.

Ohio State (10-2) eliminated the Vikings' full-court pressure early as they ran with defensive rebounds and forced four early turnovers to build a quick 13-3 lead, forcing a CSU timeout.

Then the game suddenly became sloppy as eight of the next nine possessions ended with turnovers. The Vikings were the first team to snap out of the funk and scored nine straight points. Ohio State went scoreless for better than five minutes while CSU (4-9) got back into the game, 13-12, before a Lighty 3-pointer ended the drought.

With 7:24 to play it was still a close game, 16-14, as OSU had scored just one basket in over nine minutes. CSU, operating on "one or two cylinders" according to Waters, still trailed at the half, 31-23.

The Buckeyes struck quick to start the second half with five points inside of 40 seconds for a 35-23 lead. But Montgomery delivered eight points in a 10-2 run by the Vikings to close within 40-36. Then Lighty made his presence felt.

Lighty saw Montgomery's eight and raised it with 10 straight. A fast-break dunk breaking CSU's pressure defense began the roll along with five free throws and a 3-pointer for a 50-38 Ohio State lead.

"I knew I had to get up because [the CSU defender] was bigger than me," Lighty said of his dunk. "I knew I couldn't go in there soft. A play like that got the whole team going, and the crowd."

Cleveland State wouldn't get any closer than 10 points.

Ooops! Cleveland State freshman Tim Kamczyc suffered the ultimate embarrassment when he went to the scorers table, took off his warmup, and discovered he had forgot to put his jersey on. The CSU trainer made a hasty dash to the locker room while Kamczyz waited on the bench. He played two minutes in the first half and nine for the game with three points.

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